The hands a mixed race couple protect a candle flame from the wind as they protest with supporters of the Dalai Lama outside the Houses of Parliament in Cape Town. The Dalai Lama was invited to attend fellow Nobel peace laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu's 80th birthday celebration later this week but thus far his visa application has been rejected by the South African government, fearing reprisals by China, the country's largest trading partner.

Against a backdrop of London's skyline, Zora Bishop, 22, left, and Leanne Golightly, 23, relax in the autumn sunshine on the South Bank of the River Thames. Britain's heat wave will soon come to an end, with temperatures expected to drop later this week.

Protesters with Yemeni and Syrian flags painted on their faces chant slogans during a demonstration to demand the resignation of Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh. The Arabic writing on the man's face at right reads, "Get out."

Amanda Knox is escorted into an appeal hearing at the Perugia court. The 24-year-old looked tense as she entered a packed courthouse. She is expected to address the court in a final plea of her innocence. A verdict is expected later today. American student Knox and her former Italian boyfriend were found guilty of the murder and sexual assault of a British woman, Meredith Kercher, in Perugia.

Devotees to the Chinese shrine of Jui Tui shield themselves as fireworks explode as they carry a shrine during a street procession at the annual Vegetarian Festival on Phuket. The traditional Chinese vegetarian festival held during the ninth lunar month of the Chinese calendar emphasizes ritual cleansing to mark the nine-day festival featuring face-piercing, spirit mediums and strict vegetarianism.

Residents walk past a tattered Philippine flag at an area where most of the houses were wiped out by strong currents from recent typhoons along a coastal village in Tangos. Flood waters slowly receded Monday in many parts of the northern Philippines after two typhoons.

A man carries ducks to a livestock market in Kathmandu. The Hindu festival of Navaratri, also known as the Dasain festival, celebrates the triumph of good over evil. Hindus offer sacrificial animals during the festival.

High school students clash with riot police during a protest march against economic austerity and planned education reforms. Clashes broke out when police attempted to free traffic after the students blocked a main avenue in front of Parliament.

Families of Palestinian prisoners held in Israel protest in front the International Committee of the Red Cross in Nablus. The inmates started a hunger strike Sept. 28 to protest punishments such as lengthy stays in solitary confinement, officials said.

A memorial ceremony at Minora Monument pays tribute to victims of the Nazi massacre of Jews at Babi Yar ravine in Kiev 70 years ago. The Nazis shot 33,771 Jews at Babi Yar from Sept. 29 to 30, 1941, in an atrocity that has been commemorated only in recent years.

Judges walk to Parliament from Westminster Abbey in London. The start of the legal year is marked with a traditional religious service and procession. The judges arrive from the Royal Courts of Justice for the service followed by a procession to the Houses of Parliament, where the lord chancellor hosts a reception.

Nurses look after babies inside a postpartum center. Taiwan had the world's lowest fertility rate at 0.9 children per woman on the island of 23 million people last year, according to the Ministry of the Interior. Taiwan wants to raise its birthrate before the sinking number of newborns threatens productivity for its export-driven $390-billion economy.

An anti-Kadafi fighter fires an RPG-7 during fighting in an area about a half mile from the center of Sirte. The city of Sirte on the Mediterranean coast is the birthplace of Kadafi and is at the center of a battle for control between fighters loyal to Libya's deposed leader and forces with the National Transitional Council, the country's new rulers.

Indian children eat food at their temporary shelter on the side of the road in Hyderabad. In an affidavit filed to the Supreme Court, India's Planning Commission shared a new estimate on India's poverty line, setting it at $19.50 per month for people living in cities and at $16 for people living in rural areas to spend on food, education and health.

Pictures in the News | Oct. 3, 2011

Amanda Knox is whisked away from the courthouse in Perugia, Italy, after she was acquitted of murder and sexual assault in a dramatic end to her four-year legal battle.

In Cape Town, South Africa, a mixed race couple protests with supporters of the Dalai Lama outside the Houses of Parliament. The government has thus far rejected his application for a visa to attend fellow Nobel peace laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s 80th birthday celebration, fearing reprisals from China.

Devotees to the Chinese shrine of Jui Tui celebrate the Vegetarian Festival on Thailand’s Phuket Island, while coastal areas north of Manila remain a testament to the destructive power of the recent typhoon in the Philippines.

Londoners make the most of the balmy weather of an autumn heat wave in Britain as judges march from Westminster Abbey to Parliament in a tradition marking the beginning of the legal year.

Closer to home, a “Difficult Access Team” continues to assess damage to the Washington Monument caused by the earthquake in August, and the White House is bathed in pink light in recognition of Breast Cancer Awareness month.

Images from France, India, Libya, Nepal, Pakistan, Taiwan, the Ukraine and Yemen are all part of today’s Pictures in the News.